Railroad-tie



(No Model.)

F. J. HOYT. RAILROAD TIE.

No. 423,929. I Patented Mar. 25, 1890.

* F 3.7575. n. i

UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED .I. HOYT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-TIE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,929, dated March25, 1890. Application filed July 13, 1889. Serial No. 317,425. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRED J. HOYT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Ties; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will 7 enable others skilled in the art towhich it [o appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to railroad-ties; and it consists of a novelcombination of wood and metal, having the combined advantages of awooden and metallic tie, as hereinafter I 5 described and claimed. It isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a planview of a sheet of metal from which the metallic body and ends of thetie are made; Fig. 2, a plan of the complete 2o tie, and Fig. 3 a sideelevation of the same.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a sheet of rolled metal,preferably steel, forming a blank for the center and ends of the tie. Inpractice I make this piece from three- 2 5 eighths to five-eighths of aninch thick,the center about eightinches wide, and the ends about twentyinches wide. The ends are turned up to form boxes B B, with their sidesabout six inches deep. The central port-ion C is arched,

as shown, the highest portion of the center being on a line with the topof the boxes.

D D are pieces of wooden ties-say about thirty inches long-each set intoa boX and firmly secured thereto against shrinkage, &c.,

by bolts 6;

F F are rails spiked to said wooden pieces at the proper gage and in theusual manner.

By my invention a metal tie in all its parts except those parts to whichthe rails are spiked is had, and all the benefits derived 40 from woodenties are at the same time produced. The arch gives to the tie greatstrength and provides against accidents and misplacements due to sidethrusts on the rails; also, by my invention the amount of timber usuallyemployed to equip a road with ties is reduced about three-fourths, thusmaking a great saving in cost of equipment where timber is scarce. Theelasticity of a wooden support for the rails, which make the use of suchties so desirable, is retained, while at the same time the durability,strength, and other advantages of a metal tie are procured.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The arched metaltie herein described, provided with boxes turned up on the ends of saidtie, in combination with the wooden blocks secured within said boxes toform supports for the rails, substantially as set forth. 6o

2. The metal tie-blank A, provided with a central arched portion C andflaring ends B, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRED J. HOYT. Witnesses:

U. W. WEsroN, MIL'roN WESTON.

